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About

Founded in 1992 and named in honor of the late philanthropist Vera List, the Vera List Center for Art and Politics embodies The New School’s historic commitment to the arts. It is the site for public discourse on the role of the arts in society at large. Visit our New School site for institutional information.

The center organizes various programs that respond to some of the pressing social and political issues of our time as they are articulated by the academic community and visual and performing artists. It enhances the university’s educational mission by bringing together scholars and students, the people of New York, and national and international audiences in an exploration of new possibilities for civic engagement.

Contact and Staff
The Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School
Alvin Johnson-J.M. Kaplan Hall
66 West 12th Street, Room 918
New York, New York 10011

Phone: 212.229.2436
Email: vlc@newschool.edu

Carin Kuoni, Director
The Vera List Center is directed by Carin Kuoni (M.A. University of Zurich; B.A. Sorbonne). An art historian by education, and a curator and critic by practice, Kuoni was previously director of exhibitions at Independent Curators International (ICI) and director of the Swiss Institute New York. She has curated and co-curated over twenty international exhibitions, and has written for a number of international publications. A founding member of the artists’ collective REPOhistory, she is the editor of Energy Plan for the Western Man: Joseph Beuys in America (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1990 [paperback 1993]), and Words of Wisdom: A Curator’s Vade Mecum on Contemporary Art (New York: ICI, 2001). Her exhibition The Puppet Show (co-curated with Ingrid Schaffner) toured nationally from 2008-2009; in 2008, she curated OURS: Democracy in the Age of Branding for Parsons The New School for Design.

Annie Shaw, Senior Office Assistant
Administrative support for the Vera List Center is provided by Annie Shaw (M.F.A. Columbia; B.A. Washington University). Before joining the VLC in 2010, she co-organized the Visiting Artists Lecture Series at Columbia University, and worked as the Program Assistant at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions. As an artist and community organizer, she conceived and produced a five-year site-specific project series Leefahsalung at the New China Town Barber Shop. She is also a founding member of Outpost for Contemporary Art. Her work has been shown at La Casa Enciendida of Madrid, LAXART, Monte Vista Projects, and UnSmoke at Braddock, Pennsylvania.

Julie Hartshorn-Snavely, Archivist & Special Projects Administrator
Management and oversight of the Vera List Center archives is provided by Julie Hartshorn-Snavely (B.A. Ohio State University) who also administers and conducts research for ad hoc projects at the Center. Prior to joining the Vera List Center in 2008, she worked in finance. Hartshorn-Snavely was appointed VLC Archivist in the spring of 2010.

Curatorial Interns – Summer 2011
Sonia Louise Davis, artist and curator, BA (with honors) in African American Studies: Visual Art and Music from Wesleyan University
Helena Vilalta, curator and writer, MA (with distinction) in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art, London

We welcome your feedback. Please contact us at vlc@newschool.edu for any suggestions, responses, inquiries and we’ll respond as soon as possible.

Below is a list of institutions and groups that also explore the intersection of art and politics:

9 Scripts from a Nation at War
16 Beaver

Brooklyn Rail
Cabinet

Center for Place, Culture, and Politics, CUNY

Center for Religion and Media, NYU

Center for Tactical Magic

Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)

Change You Want to See Gallery
Creative Time

D.A.P. (Distributed Art Publishers)

Exit Art

Free103point9

Glowlab

Heyman Center for the Humanities,
Columbia University
Institute for Distributed Creativity

Journal of Aesthetics and Protest
Location One
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
New School for General Studies
Not an Alternative

Pond

Printed Matter
Storefront for Art and Architecture
Triple Canopy
WhereWeAreNow
Yes Men

Upcoming